Altar
Altar
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
£12,000-£18,000 VALUE (EST.)
$23,000-$35,000 VALUE (EST.)
$20,000-$30,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥110,000-¥160,000 VALUE (EST.)
€14,000-€21,000 VALUE (EST.)
$110,000-$170,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥2,180,000-¥3,270,000 VALUE (EST.)
$14,500-$22,000 VALUE (EST.)
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren’t enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Etching, 2009
Signed Print Edition of 59
H 130cm x W 127cm
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2017 | Sotheby's Dubai - United Arab Emirates | Altar - Signed Print | |||
| September 2016 | Sotheby's Online - United Kingdom | Altar - Signed Print |
Meaning & Analysis
Altar is a signed etching from Damien Hirst’s 2009 Sanctum series that shows an array of butterfly wings arranged in an intricate kaleidoscopic pattern. Depicted in shades of yellow, pink, red and turquoise, this print is perfectly symmetrical and made up of concentric circles.
The Sanctum series is indicative of Hirst’s obsession with butterflies and every print uses hundreds of butterfly wings to form its beautiful pattern. For Hirst, the butterfly is a ‘universal trigger’ that many people share in finding attractive and joyous. Recalling someone once saying to him: “Butterflies are beautiful, but it’s a shame they have disgusting hairy bodies in the middle,” Hirst in works like this chose only to display the dazzling wings in Altar.
Reminiscent of stained glass windows in Gothic architecture and the circular patterns of mandalas, Altar is representative of Hirst’s broad range of artistic inspiration. The use of the butterfly differs from earlier iterations of the motif in installations such as In and Out of Love from 1991. Using only the butterfly wings, Hirst removes the idealised image of the butterfly from the real insect, notably arranging the wings into an aesthetic composition.
